REAL ESTATE IN THE NEWS
REAL ESTATE IN THE NEWS
Current Events in the Roaring Fork Valley of Particular Interest to the Real Estate Community
Compliments of the Aspen Board of REALTORS® A rundown of government and business activity over the last month, focusing on issues and items that are of particular interest to the Real Estate community.
ASPEN
Lift 1A Finally Removed
After 55 years in service at the western base of Aspen Mountain, Lift 1A has started to be removed, the Aspen Daily News reported. Crews started removing its chairs and hauling rope in July and then will tackle the lift towers later this summer or in the fall, in anticipation that construction will ramp up soon on a major redevelopment of the Lift One corridor.
The aging double chair, also known as the Shadow Mountain Lift, will eventually be replaced with a modern, high-speed option that loads further down the hill. Its base will be flanked by hundreds of thousands of square feet in new development. Plans include an Aman hotel — previously pitched as a Gorsuch Haus, the land and approvals sold in 2022 and became a project of OKO Group — and a complex called Chalet Alpina, which includes both timeshares and full-ownership condos.
Aspen Police Department Drops Flock Cameras
The Aspen Police Department will end its contract with Georgia-based Flock Safety after fielding concerns from the community about the controversial license plate readers, the Aspen Daily News reported. The surveillance company’s cameras have stirred public controversy and debate in Glenwood Springs and around the country due to privacy concerns and data-sharing with other law enforcement agencies.
The data, limited to license plates and searchable only by APD, would have only been retained for 30 days unless the police department learned that a picture was related to a crime that occurred in Aspen. But despite the efforts to ease community concerns about Aspen’s Flock cameras, the police department decided to scrap the contract altogether.
RH Takes Full Control of Crystal Palace Building
RH, a luxury home furnishing company that began developing projects in Aspen alongside developer Mark Hunt in 2021, is now the sole owner of the former Crystal Palace building that is being redeveloped into an RH Guesthouse, the Aspen Daily News reported. The company acquired the property in full as part of a series of transactions with Hunt in May in which the two separated ownership of several shared assets across Aspen. The filing reported the property RH plans to open as an RH Guesthouse. But the company also fully acquired several other Aspen properties. In a June 2026 first-quarter earnings call, RH Chairman and CEO Gary Friedman said the company now has "100% control" over eight Aspen properties.
Short Term Rental Permits Slow in Aspen
The number of active short-term rental permits issued by the city of Aspen and Pitkin County shows a 9% decline in the total number of permits registered, Aspen Journalism reported. The county alone saw a 29% drop in the number of licensed properties in the past three years and a 62% decline from pre-regulation years.
Local governments have passed STR policies in response to accelerating residential construction, environmental impact and socioeconomic concern. The programs are subject to change. Last year, Aspen eased some of its rules on permit transferability in the event of death or divorce. Pitkin County is expecting a final report later this summer from a consultant who has been studying the STR marketplace, and county commissioners could potentially discuss amendments to rental history or other requirements, in an effort to keep the program sustainable. Across the board, administrators say they look for ways to streamline the application process. About 16% of the 1.1 million visitors to Aspen in 2025 chose an STR unit for their lodging.
Snowmass Village
Snowmass Booming with Construction Projects
Nearly three decades in the making, the final phase of Snowmass Base Village is near completion, the Aspen Daily News reported. The two-building, 89-unit Stratos complex will be finished in 2027 and is currently about 80% sold. Looking ahead and up the ski hill, two major construction projects are on tap near the location where the Snowmass Mall meets the ski slope. The planning process to redevelop the Viewline Resort Snowmass, Snowmass Conference Center and Wildwood Lodge (located just uphill from the mall) into a Ritz-Carlton resort has begun. Officials anticipate a two-year planning process followed by an estimated four winters of ongoing construction. The application projects an opening date of 2031.
Snowmass Bans Summer Use of Gas-Powered Blowers
Snowmass Town Council unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers during the summer months of each year: June 15 to Sept. 15, the Aspen Times reported. The ordinance presents a uniform timeline for compliance—2029—by all parties, including commercial/HOA/government operators and private citizens.The ordinance allows commercial operators to use gas-powered blowers during the shoulder seasons and allows for gas-powered blowers for more routine wor
Basalt
Controversy Surrounds Basalt Hotel Proposal
During the first public hearing for a 94-roon Residence Inn by Marriott, the town of Basalt Planning and Zoning Commission heard from community members who debated the project’s merits on the former Movieland 7 theater near El Jebel, the Aspen Daily News reported. They heard from area residents, some lamenting the loss of a community "third space" (a social gathering spot away from home or work) in favor of what they perceive to be an asset that increases over-development and is another instance of catering to visitors over locals. Meanwhile, the applicants, property owner Bowtie Partners and hospitality real estate investment firm WalshDupart, believe they're turning an unviable business into an economic asset for the area.
Carbondale
Palm Tree Crew Purchases RVR Golf Course
Palm Tree Crew, Major Food Group and 8K Capital have acquired the purchase of the River Valley Ranch golf course—an acclaimed, 187-acre championship course set in the Crystal River Valley in Carbondale, the Aspen Times reported. River Valley Ranch golf course, a lauded mountain course with robust amenities that was listed at $24,500,000, will be the site of a project that combines Major Food Group’s restaurants with Palm Tree Crew’s event and lifestyle offerings to create a new golf experience. The partners envision a destination that pairs championship golf with fine dining and a social calendar.
Glenwood Springs
Limestone Quarry Limping Forward
A long-contentious quarry on federal land neighboring Glenwood Springs is one step closer to tripling its acreage, despite pushback from nearby residents and Colorado political leaders, the Aspen Daily News reported. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management deemed an application to expand the Mid-Continent Limestone Quarry from 16 to 56 acres “complete” in late June. A technical review by the BLM follows.
The limestone quarry, owned by Rocky Mountain Industrials, has been out of commission since December 2024, when a series of legal battles led to a federal halt on operations. The attempts to resume—and expand—the quarry have worried some local residents who are concerned that a slight expansion further opens the door for a more massive cooperation.
Cavern Springs Residents Under Contract
A resident-led cooperative formed by the 98 households in Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park—located between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs—went under contract to buy the property for $23 million, the Aspen Daily News reported.
Their June offer was accepted by the park's corporate owner, Maryland-based Horizon Land Management. Residents first learned Horizon intended to sell Cavern Springs last May when they were notified that a Texas-based investment group, Axia Realty Partners, had submitted a competing offer. Under state law, Cavern Springs residents had 120 days to purchase the park themselves. The resident-led Sopris Mountain Collective and their nonprofit partners have since raised about $11.1 million toward the $23 million purchase price
Pitkin County
Jeff Hadden Named New AVSC Alpine Director
The Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club named Will Hadden as its next Alpine director, the Aspen Daily News reported. Hadden joins with 11 years of elite-level youth training across the U.S. and in Chile. He replaces Jeff Lackie, who left the organization after taking the Alpine director role in June 2024. Hadden comes from the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, where he estimated he spent the past six or seven seasons as a competitive team coach. Coming to Aspen, it will be his first time in an Alpine director role, in charge of 13 programs and more than 200 athletes and 30 staff.
Doyle, Ittner Advance in BOCC Race
John Doyle and Rob Ittner advanced in the race for the District 1 seat on the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners during the June primary, the Aspen Daily News reported. Former Aspen Mayor Torre ran third. Doyle received 1,910 votes, or 40.6%, while Ittner garnered 1,844 votes, or 39.2%. Torre ran a distant third, pulling 951 votes, or 19.57%. The top two vote getters face each other in the Nov. 3 election.
The three men were all vying for the seat Commissioner Patti Clapper must vacate due to term limits. Doyle is a member of the Aspen City Council while Torre is a former three-term Aspen mayor. Ittner served on the BOCC from 2011 to 2015, the only person besides Clapper to represent District 1 since 1999. Clapper was term-limited in 2011, but ran again after a four-year hiatus and defeated Ittner in his reelection campaign.
Inaugural Director Hired for Early Childhood Education Coalition
The Confluence Early Childhood Development Service District, the new special tax district created to dedicate funds and efforts to early childhood services from Parachute to Aspen, named Samantha Markovitz to become the organization's inaugural executive director. Markovitz started the job on July 27.
She was previously the early childhood initiatives manager for Eagle County, a role she has been in since October 2023 after three years as the county's early childhood systems coordinator. Her education includes a master's degree in social work from the University of Denver and a bachelor's in environmental studies from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.